Queenstown planner in 4000km Race Against Time

Queenstown planner Carey Vivian will
ride his mountain bike 4000km off road from Cape Reinga to
Bluff to raise awareness and funds to fight the insidious
disease that struck his father two years ago.

Carey
officially launches his ambitious ride and fund-raising
campaign on Saturday which is Global Motor Neurone Disease
Awareness Day. The ride is scheduled for February next
year.

He has been riding a bike since he was two years
old, is mad keen on cycling and is something of a biking
guru in Queenstown where he has helped organise races,
develop mountain bike trails, and raise funds for local
mountain bike projects.

He has competed in numerous races
and is a life member of the Queenstown Mountain Bike Club
and a trustee of the Queenstown Trails Trust but says his
‘Race Against Time’ - which will criss-cross New Zealand
several times and see him riding an average of 100km per day
for six weeks - is his biggest and most important bike
challenge yet.

“It is so important because it is
personal. It is about using my expertise to help the Motor
Neurone Disease Association of New Zealand (MNDANZ) who have
been helping my dad since he was diagnosed with the disease
in 2012.”

Carey’s dad Barrie Vivian has spent a
lifetime designing, making, painting and fixing Carey’s
bikes. He has also built several boats, houses, a sports car
and even a two-seater aeroplane. Nothing has ever been too
hard for him to fix.

“Motor Neurone Disease is something
that neither Dad nor anyone else can fix,” Carey says.
“Doctors often say they wouldn’t wish this disease on
their worst enemy, as nobody understands why it happens and
a cure is thought to be lifetimes away.”

Motor Neurone
Disease is the name given to a group of diseases which cause
the nerve cells – neurones – that control the muscles
enabling people to move, speak, breathe and swallow
degenerate and die. With no nerves to activate them, muscles
gradually weaken and waste away, causing loss of mobility in
the limbs, and difficulties with speech, swallowing and
breathing. Eventually the disease proves fatal.

Around 300
people in New Zealand live with Motor Neurone Disease.
Someone in Australia dies from the disease every
day.

Carey credits the MNDANZ with helping his dad come to
grips with what he is going through. But like many
charitable organisations, they rely on minimal funding and
resources.

Having spent a lot of time organising events to
raise funds for mountain bike trials in and around
Queenstown, Carey realised he could use those skills to
raise funds for MNDANZ.

He decided to undertake a charity
bike ride with the aim of raising at least $50,000 for the
association. He developed the idea into the ‘Race Against
Time’, a 4000km off road ride linking all the New Zealand
Cycleway Trails between Cape Reinga and Bluff.

Carey
admits his ride is less a race and more a planned adventure
on which he needs to reach certain places within prescribed
timeframes.

“The race part is more to do with the
fundraising and public awareness campaigns leading up to my
February 2015 start. The name is also symbolic of those with
Motor Neurone Disease as many only have a short time to
live.”

Carey is in training for the Race Against Time on
a bike which his father helped modify for the fundraising
ride, a project Carey knows will likely prove to be one of
Barrie’s last welding jobs ever.

“At least I know that
when it comes time for the ride, I am in safe hands. His
welding has never failed me.”

Carey knows the funds
raised by his ride will be too late to help his
dad.

“What has inspired me and my family is knowing that
the funds and awareness raised will help New Zealanders who
suffer the same fate as my dad in the future. They, like
dad, will be faced with their own race against time to do
everything they ever wanted before it is too late.”

As a
professional planner for almost 20 years and a member of the
New Zealand Planning Institute (NZPI) Carey is well aware of
the irony of being in a race against time.

“Planners
don’t have the reputation of being the fastest moving
profession but that’s a little unfair. If the planning is
done right then any project can proceed smoothly and on time
to deliver the desired outcomes, which is the approach I am
taking to the ride.”

NZPI CEO Susan Houston says
Carey’s story and his efforts are an inspiration to the
organisation and its members throughout the country.

“We
will support Carey however we possibly can and I expect all
of our 2000-plus members to be cheering for Carey during his
ride and doing whatever they can to support the
cause.”

New Zealand
Planning Institute (NZPI)The NZPI is the voice
of planning in New Zealand. It is the professional
organisation representing this country’s planners,
resource managers, urban designers, and environmental
practitioners.Planners have a critical role in shaping New
Zealand’s future by helping to develop solutions to key
issues, such as population growth, infrastructure needs,
pressure on natural resources and environments, demographic
change and transport. For more information visit www.planning.org.nz.

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